Creative Concepts

Over the first 6 months of 2010, FourSquare — a geolocation-based service that’s designed as a game — has become the latest and hottest social media tool.  But if you’ve never used it, you might be in the dark.

Here’s how it works:

• FourSquare allows users to “check in” from wherever they are, physically, in the real world — say, Central Park, or their local deli.
• The person who checks into a location more often than anyone else does becomes the “mayor” of that location
• Being the mayor may entitle that person to certain coupons, benefits and freebies, if the location chooses to play along.
• Depending on where you check in and how often, users can unlock “badges” that signify their accomplishments within the game.

In essence, FourSquare is a service that rewards users for sharing their geolocation information with the world.  Its game-like design is spurring rapid adoption among new users.  And businesses are quickly catching on to the service’s potential.

Here are 5 resources that might pique your company’s interest in FourSquare:

• Willis Wee offers 5 ways to leverage FourSquare for business.
• Geoff Livingston suggests 3 ways nonprofits can use FourSquare.
• Learn about “tips” FourSquare users can leave about your business.
• How is FourSquare part of the Six Flags customer loyalty program?
• Meet a winery that’s increased business thanks to FourSquare.

All these new opportunities get a marketer’s gears turning, don’t they?

(And speaking of Twitter, you should follow us there!)

We’ll admit it: social media can be overwhelming.

Posting blog entries, updating Facebook, tagging photos, streaming videos, digging, stumbling, tweeting… and we haven’t even mentioned tracking feedback, gauging sentiment, following fans and solving problems.

Who has time for all this?

Well, we do, but that’s what we do every day.  And even we wouldn’t have time for everything we do if we didn’t have a few tools at hand that made everything a bit easier and kept us all a bit more sane.

If you’re trying to wrap your head around scaling your own social media solutions, here are 4 tips that might make everything more manageable.

1.  Social Media Platform Management — The moment you’re managing more than one social media channel at a time, your room for error — or for old-fashioned information overload — multiplies exponentially.  Jamie Beckland compiled a great comparison chart of social media management tools like HootSuite, CoTweet and SocialOomph, so you can find a solution that suits your needs without breaking your budget.

2.  Converge Your Channels — Does your Flickr account link to your blog?  Do you tweet links to your YouTube videos?  Do your employees’ LinkedIn profiles all point back to your company’s website and its Facebook page?  If boosting traffic is part of your social media strategy, make sure your channels are working together, not in isolation.

3.  Get Ahead and Stay Ahead — Not everything in social media happens in real time.  Yes, you need to engage your audience and answer their questions as they happen, but those promotional tweets you need to send about next week’s big sale can be scheduled a week in advance.  And any evergreen content on your website or blog can be referred to regularly, which means you don’t need to lay awake every night worrying about having something new to say tomorrow.

4.  Streamline Your Efforts — As important as it is to be everywhere online, it’s even more important to be where your audience is most active.  They may find you on Flickr, but they might interact with you most beneficially on Twitter or Facebook.  If time is of the essence — and it always is — figure out which of your channels yields the highest return on your investment.  Then, limit your efforts on the ancillary channels strictly to maintenance (unless circumstances change), and pour the bulk of your resources into what’s working.

And if it all still sounds like too much work, start with one simple question:

What don’t people know about your company?

Then, tell them.

Image by Katie W.

Is social media a sales driver and a marketing aid?  Absolutely.

But we also encourage our clients to think outside the box, and find innovative ways to surprise and delight their customers by using these tools in unconventional ways.  One way we do this is by studying how other sectors use these same tools in non-marketing ways, and then innovating in reverse.

For example, the folks at OnlineUniversities recently compiled a list of 100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media in the Classroom.  Their tips include:

• Study geography. Use a combination of Twitter and Google Earth to help teach geography-based lessons. This teacher used his network of Twitter followers to create an interactive lesson for his young students. Use her idea to spark your creativity for ways to use these two resources.
• Connect with other classrooms. Collaborate with another classroom, no matter where they are in the world, to expand learning opportunities.
• Window to daily life at school. Create a website like the one at University of Chicago Law School. that allows visitors to hear from students and professors about their daily life at law school.

Which made us wonder… if these approaches work in the classroom, how might they also work in the boardroom?  Or in R&D?  Or sales?

Such as…

• Get a global snapshot of your customers’ realities. Twitter makes it easy to follow users from around the world and receive their updates in real time.  By following your customers in different markets / time zones / continents, you’ll have a constant stream of incoming data that describes their lives and their needs.  And when they share breaking news in their region, your company has the opportunity to act on immediate information and stay ahead of the news cycle.
• Connect with brand evangelists. If consumers love your brand, they’ll want to know about new products and services ASAP.  You could send your top 100 customers the same email blast that you send to your other 99,000 customers… or you could invite those loyalists to take part in Twitter conversations, Facebook discussions and even Skype conferences.  Reward their support by offering them increased access and they’ll reward you with feedback, leads and sales, not because they have to, because your personalized outreach has made them a partner in your company’s growth.
• Provide a window on your company’s culture. To the consumer, every brand is a nameless, faceless corporation by default.  The more personalized and transparent a company becomes, the more a casual customer comes to think of that company as being familiar, rather than generic.  Find the best internal observers of what makes your company tick, and empower those employees to post descriptive, informative or witty updates about your day-to-day operations on Twitter and Facebook.  Catching a daily glimpse of life in your office helps your customers feel like they’re in the cubicles and manufacturing lines with you — and it gives them another reason to care about your success.

How else can you innovate with the same tools everyone else is using?

By using them to demonstrate your commitment to your customers, you’ll really give your audience something to talk about.

Well we are very excited about all the good stuff coming our/your way.  As you probably know we have our Business Smart Tools conference coming up tomorrow, Tuesday May 5th.  Speakers from Bigelow Tea, Pitney Bowes, Ford and PepsiCo will present, we will feature true social media experts and we will include breakout sessions on Twitter for Business, The Power of Video, Where do you begin Online and the ROI of Social Media (and a personal thank you to our great sponsors MarketWire, Everett Hall Associates, and CitySquares!)  You can’t beat this event for social media education and excitement especially seeing that you get lunch and a great networking cocktail party thrown in!  You can still register here.

We are also excited because we are right around the corner from launching our new website!  Flash based sites were cool how long ago…we know…too long ago, and that’s why we are updating it to reflect who we are, a PR and Social Media consultancy with fluency in communication both online and off via blogs, social networks, video and more.  Can’t wait!

And finally we are so excited about our new client Ouidad who are great people with a great product and service.  As you can see from my photo, I have naturally curly hair and well my curls were cured when I found Ouidad.  We have just launched their new blog so take a look and let us know what you think.

Well there will be more to report after the conference, after our new site goes live, after Ouidad has been up and running for a bit and after we announce or next newest client.

Stay Tuned!

Valorie

John C Havens of BlogTalkRadio and Speaker at the Business Smart Tools Conference interviews Valorie Luther about the Business Smart Tools conference and social media at large!

Download podcast here

Albert and Valorie take some time out for the Marketing Edge Podcast. Learn more about the Business Smart Tools Conference and join in the conversation that has begun here and will continue on May 5^th. To register, go here.

Well, I regretted not being able to go to Podcamp Boston this past weekend but because of the capabilities of social media, I got a feel for what went on.  Greg Verdino of Crayon and an Advisor to the Business Smart Tools conference can be watched here as he and the panel speak about smart social media marketing. 

And a note from Christopher Penn, one of the organizers, about the goals for Podcamp Boston:  With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility!  See more here…I agree that community is the foundation of great power.

One of my clients, my contact from Pitney Bowes, came back and was exhilerated by the passion of the speakers and attendees.  Social media does this. 

A few points to consider:  Greg’s panels says you have to give up some control with social media to be effective, but as I say to many present and potential clients, you actually control more by putting out your message in a clear and consise way on a platform where all people can reference forever what you have said (blog, video….).  Each client controls more through social media than they ever would through a press release where a few media types take what you have said and put their own spin on it!!  Social media also allows you to hear from clients immediately which allows you to repsond publicly which shows your consumer base that you care and can react quickly!

I also fully believe that by building community you are building up a foundation for your company which could last for generations.  Bigelow Tea is doing this with their blog, their myspace page, their facebook page and with all of their videos!  My team is about to head into a presentation with a potential client who understands that community is needed, they just don’t know how to make it happen and so we hopefully will have the chance to build something substantial for them.

This is what Creative Concepts does…we quite simply build communities for our clients.  We don’t do viral one time campaigns (because we don’t believe one time efforts will have a profound long standing effect) and we don’t create banner ads and throw them across millions of websites that have nothing to do with the client (banner ads must have very targeted placement to work at all!).  We enter the communities and we listen and share information.  We build online channels where the customer can get top notch expert content in addition to being entertained and we help the client address each comment no matter what the tone or subject matter….this is what social media is about for the corporate sector and for eveyone really, listening, responding, and contributing!